The Blog

2021-

2021-03-07 c
MAKE AMERICA RINO-FREE AGAIN
"But Trump's Saturday statement — along with the polling from his leadership PAC — represents a new escalation in his battle against Murkowski. "

Trump vows to campaign against 'disloyal' Murkowski

The former president is formalizing his long-held opposition to the four-term senator, promising to travel outside the Lower 48 to galvanize Alaska voters against her.

Former President Donald Trump is making official his plans to target Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, vowing to travel to Alaska to campaign against her ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.

In a statement to POLITICO on Saturday, Trump said: “I will not be endorsing, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great State of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski. She represents her state badly and her country even worse. I do not know where other people will be next year, but I know where I will be — in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad Senator.”

Murkowski, who has held her seat since 2002, has been a longtime critic of the former president and was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict him in last month’s impeachment trial. She is the only one of the seven to face reelection in 2022.

A Murkowski spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s statement comes just days after Murkowski advanced the nomination of Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) to serve as interior secretary, which Trump called “yet another example of Murkowski not standing up for Alaska.”

Murkowski was the only Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to approve the nomination. The 63-year-old senator said she “struggled” with whether to back Haaland, saying she had to reconcile the Democrat’s past opposition to oil drilling with her heritage as a Native American, a well-represented population in Murkowski’s home state.

Questions about how involved the former president will be in primaries next year has gripped the GOP since he left office. Republicans are within striking distance of reclaiming control of both the House and Senate in next year's midterms, but some in the party fear that Trump could make their path more difficult by endorsing more extreme candidates against proven, moderate vote-winners in swing states or congressional districts.

Trump’s political team has commissioned polling on the Alaska senator, further evidence of its interest in unseating her. The survey, which was conducted Jan. 30-Feb 1, before Murkowski voted to convict the former president, found Murkowski with a 43 percent favorable rating in Alaska, short of Trump’s 52 percent figure. The survey was conducted by McLaughlin and Associates, a firm that worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns. It was paid for by Save America, Trump’s leadership political action committee. (read more)

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